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Trade Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2021

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Questions (8)

Paul Murphy

Question:

8. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the planned timeframe for ratifying the CETA trade agreement. [53136/21]

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Written answers

Ratifying CETA is Government policy and an objective of mine as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

As a country, we owe our relative prosperity to the goods and services produced by our people and our land, which we sell around the world. This formula has worked well. It is based on international trade, our attractiveness as a place to invest and our ability to enter into international free trade agreements with other countries.

CETA has provisionally applied since 21st September 2017, whereby those areas for which the EU has "full competence" under the Treaties are in force.

As I set out in my appearances before the Joint Oireachtas Committees on EU Affairs and on Enterprise Trade & Employment, when each reviewed CETA, provisional application has seen Goods exports to Canada increase from €953 million in 2016 to more than €1.7 billion in 2020 - an an increase of 78% in a little over five years. And Services exports grew from €1.6 billion in 2016 to more than €2.3 billion in 2019, an increase of 44%. These figures demonstrate the benefits of CETA and trade agreements.

I had originally sought to bring the relevant ratification motion for CETA before Dáil Éireann last December. However, given the significant pressures on Oireachtas time, and to facilitate a request from the Green Party for additional time to consider the Agreement, it was agreed by Government to postpone this Motion until a later date.

While I welcome the scrutiny at Committee, I do not want ratification delayed and drifting indefinitely, and for Ireland to have to stand by and watch other EU member states ratify it ahead of us, as the majority have. That would send out the wrong message to the world.

The ratification process for CETA has also been subject to legal challenges. On foot of a case taken by Deputy Patrick Costello, the High Court has confirmed that there is no requirement for a referendum before ratification can be considered by the House. Senator Lynn Boylan has also initiated High Court action on ratification and I hope that the Courts could facilitate an early hearing of this application as it did with Deputy Costello's challenge.

I appreciate there are strongly held differences of opinion on CETA, principally in the area of Investment Protection. Those opinions can be expressed through a democratic vote in the Dáil in due course. An exact date for that vote has not yet been set by the Government.

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